Category Archives: OBSERVATION

Recounts provide a peaceful dispute mechanism to help ensure that elections will be free and fair and equal to all. But the mere act of having a recount is not what helps elections be free and fair. The recount must be accountable to the public and fully transparent. A recount doesn’t need a smoking gun, and never needs to be apologized for….

Most of the activities termed “audits” in elections are not audits at all, but are really spot checks. An actual audit differs in these important ways: – It is holistic, cross-checking information from a variety of source documents; – Discrepancies trigger nonrestricted expansion of the audit; – The entity being audited is not allowed to constrain the audit; – A…

This is already available in most systems. Laws are already on the books to authorize you to do this. It costs almost nothing and enables almost everyone to authenticate computerized voting system results. All that remains is cooperation (or court-ordered coercion) of public officials to force them to honor your rights. It is a one-two punch which makes it very…

A caucus is an election style where participants come together in a meeting to first discuss, then vote. The process is more transparent than most U.S. elections because you can see who can vote, who did vote, observe the vote count, and (hopefully) observe the chain of custody. With caucuses, chain of custody has been a weak area. Sometimes party…

Election observation helps to assess the fairness, transparency, and lawful conduct of an election process. Observers do not interfere, and while they do not directly prevent electoral fraud, they may act as a deterrent. • The primary function of election observation is to record and report problems with election integrity. • It’s important to observe the entire process — before,…

Letter of concern pertaining to three potential procedural changes pending for Anchorage, the electoral region which dominates the state of Alaska, and controls most of Alaska’s vote-counting equipment. (Result: Right to observe and use mobile devices was preserved after proposed rollback of rights.) Black Box Voting is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public education and research organization for election transparency. From: Bev…

[01/24/2007] Through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, a group of Wyoming citizens in Sheridan County chose to examine ballots for the 2006 US House race. Use of “right to know” laws for public authentication of ballot counts provides a useful, though not definitive way to evaluate vote count integrity. The difference between a public hand count through FOIA requests…

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Black Box Voting, founded in 2003, performs nonpartisan investigative reporting and public education for elections.

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You may be wondering what the term "black box" means. A "black box" system is non-transparent; its functions are hidden from the public. Elections, of course, should not be black box systems.

Influential reporting by Black Box Voting is referenced worldwide. Here is a link to a free copy of the book, Black Box Voting: HERE. Author Bev Harris became known for groundbreaking work on electronic voting machines, which can remove transparency of the vote count; other important reporting pertains to voter lists, election chain of custody, transparency problems with absentee voting, election industry corporate governance, and financial accountability in elections.

Opaque, non-transparent voting can afflict voter lists, poll lists,vote counting and chain of custody; political finance can also be "black box." The road to better transparency begins with knowledge and public, grassroots dedication. I am glad you are here!